Archers Cut to Elite Eight at Second Stage of 2016 Olympic Trials

CHULA VISTA, California – At the conclusion of shooting today, official cuts were made from the top 16 men and women to the top 8. These eight archers will continue competition tomorrow with a team round simulation competition and another set of round robin matches. Those scores will be added to cumulatively with the third and final nomination shoot next month in Newberry, Florida.

The three-part trials process will nominate archers to the quota slots the U.S. has secured. While we have qualified a full team of three slots for the men, we only have one quota slot for the women so far, but will have one last chance to earn the final two slots in Antalya, Turkey this June. So, the competition is fierce and difficult cuts were made in narrowing the field to the top eight.

Two-time Olympian and London 2012 silver medalist Brady Ellison moved into the top position in the rankings during this portion of the Trials and is looking to keep hold of that rank. “I shot really well; I think I had about a 28.58 three-arrow average [out of a possible 30] so I’m really happy that over 15 matches, with conditions ranging from calm to very windy, that I was able to maintain that average.” Going into the remainder of the trials, Brady says his plan is to: “win everything.”

“I’m feeling really excited, my shots felt way better today and I had more control so I was happy with the way I performed today. After our cut today, we have to do team round simulations, so I’m going to get some good rest and practice for that some this afternoon. For the team round simulations, we shoot 36 arrows, one every other 25 seconds, so I’m just going to focus on keeping my tempo good and making good shots. I also plan on hanging out tonight with my family who came in from out of town to support me!’

Heather Koehl was the last woman to make the cut into the top eight; she commented: “I feel happy with the way I shot today, I left it all out on the field, shot what I could and it was enough. My focus to stay in it tomorrow and in the third nomination is to really enjoy the experience, take what I’ve learned from the first and second stage of the Trials, to stay positive and really have fun with it.”

Collin Klimitchek sealed up the 7th seed on the men’s side: “I knew I was very close with several people, it’s going to be a tight race, but hopefully I can get a lot more points tomorrow and put myself into a good spot before going into the next Trials. If it’s windy tomorrow like it has been, my focus will be to pick as good of spots as I can to aim off and just making confident, quick-timed shots.”

London 2012 silver medalist Jake Kaminski finished the day sitting in third and is feeling confident going into the rest of the competition: “I stick to my process, keep doing what I’m doing right now, taking it one arrow at a time. This process is a marathon, not a sprint, each individual event and each match doesn’t really matter all that much – if you make a mistake you move on. Thinking back to 2012, I shot over 1,000 arrows during that entire Trials process, so if you have one arrow in the 7-ring, it’s not all that bad.”